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Fantasy Radio

Thursday, 5 September 2013

Player Analysis: Mesut Özil

Ozil, the new man into the Premier League.Can he make your fantasy team?

By the Stats...Price: 10.0Transfers In: Over 80,000

As an Arsenal supporter, I've been just one of the millions of supporters, who have suffered as Wenger continued to let his chequebook gather dust (my fantasy side is thusly named Wenger's Chequebook). So as I furiously updated the deadline day websites and prayed that we'd land somebody, anyone, you can imagine my joy at reading that Mesut Ozil, one of the bigger names in world football was coming to my beloved side. His nickname when he played for Werder Bremen was "der Neue Diego" (the next Diego), just to add to the excitement. But enough about me prattling on like a teenage girl at a Bieber concert. This signing has major fantasy implications...

Ozil comes from Real Madrid as a 24 year old German who dazzles week in, week out with his amazing ball skills and speed in possession. To this stage of his career, he has 47 caps for Germany and 14 goals from those matches. For a midfielder they're fantastic numbers on national duty.

In the 2012/13 season, Özil produced some incredible statistics. In fact over the course of his career, out of all the players playing in the 5 major leagues of Europe, Özil has produced the most assists in the game (47; tied with the much heralded Lionel Messi). Last season, 'Opta' the official statistics provider for the best leagues throughout Europe rated Özil, 'Very Strong' (the highest rating) for 'Taking Set Pieces', 'Crossing' and 'Key Attacking Passes'. He created a chance every 22.1 minutes, an incredible statistic given the likes of David Silva (the best provider statistically in the Premier League), at best can produce something high 20's to low 30's minutes per chance created. He scored 9 times and gave 13 assists in his 23 appearances for Real Madrid last season. He had an 84.1% pass accuracy to go along with it. Another thing that is immediately noticeable with Mesut is the fact that he is hitting his prime age, and more to the point his output in goals scored has increased steadily throughout the years.

Synopsis

So the German international, has been priced at 10.0 and likely to rise soon given the amount of acquisition he has had so far. Certainly a fair chunk of the budget goes with a player of that price. The decision will be whether you think Mesut will be one of the best midfielders in the fantasy caper. The stats have been laid bare so it's certainly a decision to be made, and one that will differ from individual to individual. Personally, I suspect he will be a captaincy option almost immediately and thus I'll be moving heaven and earth to bring him in.